Wednesday, 24 July 2013

Understanding aggression

Like so many dementia symptoms, aggression is often
misunderstood, leading to inappropriate interventions. It is popular to portray
people with dementia as angry and out of control, aggressive and unmanageable,
frightening and dangerous. Extreme examples of aggression that lead to injury
or death make for good headlines, but in reality all this does is proliferate
stigma and the idea that people with dementia should be locked away, drugged
and forgotten about.

Medicating someone who is simply trying to express themselves
only masks their symptoms rather than getting to the cause, hence why I am wholly
against the use of antipsychotics, as I wrote about here. Indeed best practice
now is that they should only be used in the most extreme circumstances, and only
after every possible alternative has been explored.

I don’t think that routinely locking away everyone with
dementia is the answer either, a view that is backed up by the Depravation of
Liberty Safeguards legislation. So how do we approach aggression in people with
dementia, and what is the best way of alleviating it?

My dad went through a period of aggressive behaviour during
his time in an elderly mentally infirm hospital unit and during his first spell
in a care home. Indeed, his aggression was sited a major reason why that
residential home, despite being a specialist dementia care setting, couldn’t
cope with him. At one point dad had reportedly tried to strangle another
resident, and clearly the home were unable to help him to reduce his aggression
or indeed keep their other residents safe.

Prior to developing dementia, my father was a man of
calmness and kindness. He was a pacifist and hated violence of any kind. In
short, he was a gentle giant – or at least to me as a small child he looked
like a giant! Once the TIA’s (mini-strokes) set into his brain, they created
damage that began to destroy the calm and gentle aspects of his personality,
and yet interestingly my dad never displayed any aggression towards us, his
family.

A lot is written about ‘challenging behaviour’, aggression
being a notable component of that. I would turn the idea of ‘challenging
behaviour’ on its head however, and suggest that the approaches we use
influence the outcomes we see. It’s easy to blame someone’s dementia and label
them as challenging. It involves far more thought and consideration to examine
that behaviour, look at the circumstances of it and understand what is behind
it.

For example, why was my father aggressive with staff and
residents, but not with us? You could look at the fact that he recognised and
loved us, and that we didn’t irritate him or order him around. But I think the
biggest factor is that, without realising it, we were probably the ones giving
him the person-centred care he needed. We knew him, we knew what he liked, and
as a result he felt familiarly and security. He didn’t feel aggressive because
he didn’t feel he had to fight for what he wanted or needed.

Imagine for a moment not being able to explain how you are
feeling or what you need. Words may tumble out, but those around you cannot
understand what you are saying and don’t do what you are trying to explain that
you need or want. You may be in an alien environment with people you don’t
know. You become confused, annoyed, angry and perhaps eventually aggressive.
The parts of your brain that previously gave you your self-control have been
damaged, the checks and balances are no longer there, and the slightest thing
can trigger a reaction.

One of the great downsides to communal establishments for
care, be they hospitals or care homes, is that people from many different backgrounds,
with different dementias or indeed other health problems, are mixing together.
Sometimes friendships are made and happiness is found, but often people irritate
each other, and because they cannot explain themselves in the way they want,
they become aggressive.

Aggression is generally a sign of an unmet need, a cry for
help, a reaction to an environment, individual or circumstance. It can be
affected by emotions,infections or
other health conditions, side-effects of medications, a lack of understanding
of time and space, and even seasonal changes in the weather (for example heat
can often produce a shorter temper).

Trying to identify the cause is about understanding the
person. Looking at the circumstances
surrounding an aggressive episode, assessing that person’s health and wellbeing,
and analysing previous routines and the history of their life prior to
developing dementia. Through these investigations you may well then find the
answer to resolving their aggression, because you should be identifying thethings in their life that can bring them
comfort, the changes that you can make to what you or other individuals are
doing, and the impact any environmental factors are having.

Aggression isn’t just reserved for those who are apparent
‘strangers’ to a person with dementia. Just because my dad wasn’t aggressive
towards his family doesn’t mean that all people with dementia aren’t aggressive
towards their loved ones. The progression of dementia can mean that otherwise
close family members aren’t recognised, and all those same feelings of
frustration and anger can emerge.

Families, however, do have an advantage as they are uniquely
placed to try and find the key to providing calm in their loved one’s life. No
one knows the person with dementia better, and even when you feel the disease
has taken the person you know and turned them into a stranger, with patience, persistence,
love and compassion you will find the one thing that will restore that
connection.

If I could tell you what that key is I gladly would, but
our uniqueness means it is individual to each person.What I can tell you, however, it that
aggression doesn’t have to be an untreatable ‘monster’ in the room with you and
your loved one. It isn’t an inevitable part of all forms of dementia, and it
can be alleviated. Support in the methods of person-centred care are vital, as
is access to anything and everything that constitutes therapeutic dementia
care. Most of all, however, people with aggressive behaviour need those around
them to understand, listen, offer support and be constantly available. Being
judgemental, avoiding an aggressive person, or labelling them as too
challenging to help isn’t going to give them any quality of life whatsoever.
Understanding aggression is about understanding the person – who they were, are
now and will be in the future.

2 comments:

hi, what a relief to read your piece on aggression and antipsychotic drugs. After the death of my mum 3 years ago it became apparent to myself and my siblings that my dad had the onset of an illness. I visited one of the alzheimer society coffee mornings with my dad every monday. Unfortunately the doctors prescibed him Sequel (quetiapine). He was on 50mg twice a day. He knew they were making his illness worse. I fell out with my sister over this as I wanted to stop the tablets, 3 years on my dad has been in decline ever since. I would like to see him drug free for the remainder of his life. I wondered if you can recommend any websites or articles.

Thanks for your comments. Has your dad been diagnosed with a form of dementia?

As far as I am aware, quetiapine is not recommended for people with dementia as it can reduce cognitive functioning. It is also largely ineffective at alleviating agitation/aggression.

There is a massive drive by the UK government to reduce the use of antipsychotics in people living with dementia. There has been some particularly pioneering work done by Dr Karim Saad at West Midlands NHS. He tweets as @karimS3D. You can read more about his work here: http://karims3d.com/2012/09/29/we-reduced-their-antipsychotics-and-this-happened/

About Me

I'm a campaigner and consultant, writer and blogger. My dad had vascular dementia for approximately the last 19 years of his life. I aim to provide support and advice to those faced with similar situations, inform and educate care professionals and the wider population, promote debate and create improvements in dementia care.